In 1629 Segipt and his family were sent to England by Sir William Alexander the younger, on a ship returning to pick up supplies for the newly founded Scottish colony. Chosen by the Micmacs as “representative of the rest” to acknowledge the suzerainty of Charles I over New Scotland and to crave his protection against the French, he had no doubt been influenced by Claude de Saint-Étienne de La Tour who had been persuaded to join the English and Scottish cause and who was returning at the same time to obtain the approval of Sir William Alexander, Earl of Stirling to an agreement whereby Claude would become a “baronet of Nova Scotia.”

While Claude, who had spent the previous winter about the court, needed no special attention, Segipt with his wife and son, travelling as king, queen and prince of Canada, were treated with the utmost courtesy. In December 1629, Sir James Bragg, governor of Plymouth, was instructed by Charles I to give every assistance to the agent whom he had sent to conduct the “royal party” to court, where they arrived in February 1630.

From the correspondence of the period it appears that they evoked much curiosity. One correspondent accepted them as genuine representatives of the aborigines, come to do homage to King Charles. Another regarded their visit as a publicity stunt, staged by the Alexanders to help in the creation of Knight-Baronets. In any event little seems to have been gained by their visit. They returned quietly with the Anglo-Scottish expedition of 1630, which failed to obtain the transfer of Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour’s allegiance and caused grave loss of face to his father Claude.

We acknowledge the support of the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage. Nous reconnaissons l’appui du gouvernement du Canada par l’entremise du ministère du Patrimoine canadien.